“Well, I guess we can start heading back toward Main Street. Would you like me to drop you off at the bookstore?”
“Yes, that would be nice. Thank you.”
“So, just to make sure we are on the same page. You won’t call the sheriff on me as soon as we get back, right?”
“That depends.”
“Depends on what?”
“How sorry you are for kidnapping me.” The corner of my mouth twitches into a smirk.
“Super sorry. Scout’s honor. Would I win any favor if you got to meet Jake today?”
“Oh, bribing me with your fur child, I see, that’s an unfair advantage.”
The ride back to Main Street is quicker than I want it to be. The storefronts blur by as we make our way down. The silence is awkward but comfortable.
“Do you and Eli work at the same hospital?” I ask, wanting to continue our previous easygoing conversation.
“Yeah, we’re rotating at the same hospital right now and hope to get into their residency program.”
I watch him from the corner of my eye, his hand resting loosely on the wheel, veins flexing with every turn. Gosh, I bet the nurses at the hospital love him. Those veins are probably their version of a jackpot.
“I bet the nurses love your forearms,” I blurt before my brain can stop me. The words slip out way too casually, and the second they do, I want to reel them back in.Way to have no filter, Charlie.
He glances over, one brow raised. “My forearms?”
“Yeah, I donate blood once a quarter, and the nurses can never find my veins. My arm ends up looking like I went twelve rounds with a toddler holding a marker. Yours must be heaven to them.” I’m oversharing again, but how else was I going to recover from complimenting hisveins?
His nostrils flare, his jaw tightens, and I swear I see the muscles in his forearm flex tighter around the steering wheel.
“Where do you go?” he asks, his voice low, but there’s something behind it I can’t quite name.
“Where do I go?” I repeat dumbly, because my brain short-circuits at his tone.
“For blood draws.”
“Oh. I usually drive in for the Brooksdale Medical Center quarterly blood drive.”
He nods once, eyes still on the road. “Next time you give blood, come find me. I’ll do it. That way you won’t bruise.”
I blink, caught off guard. My stomach does this weird swoopy thing at his protective tone. I stare at his face, unable to comprehend why he feels the need to draw my blood for me. His jaw ticks; he’s focused, pretending not to notice me watching him, which makes me want to poke the bear.
“Sooooo,” I say, dragging out the word and changing the topic so the butterfly in my stomach will stop fluttering at his odd version of protectiveness. “What are we?”
He chuckles, head tipping back against the seat. “You’re kidding, right?”
I grin, unable to help it. “Oh, come on. You can’t fake-kidnap someone, drive them around town, feed them, and then just drop them off like an Amazon return. There’s gotta be some kind of label for us.”
He glances my way, the corner of his mouth twitching. “Yeah. The label is: mistake I’ll be paying for until I die.”
“Harsh,” I say, clutching my chest in mock offense, “and here I thought we had something special.”
He exhales a quiet laugh under his breath that he tries to hide, but I catch it. And even though he doesn’t say it, the look in his eyes says enough.
As we near The Lantern Nooks, I spot Claire waving frantically at a very apologetic-looking Eli. He’s trying to calm her down while also juggling a puppy leash—attached to a fluffy little dog who looks two seconds away from bolting after a squirrel.
“Oh-em-gee, is that Jake?” I ask, my voice bubbling with excitement.
